Glossary

The following terms are defined on this page to clarify the meaning of each of them as they relate to Waze. The are provided alphabetically for your convenience.

ASR - Automatic Speech Recognition

The ability of a smartphone to translate a user's voice commands into actions on the device

BGS - Big Green Sign

A large green sign is the US standard road signage for exits and other information.

Candies, bonus candies

Small candy shaped icons that appear on the Waze client app. Drive over them to collect the points associated. See Road candies for more information.

Carpool, carpool lane

A vehicle with 2 or more occupants. Also known as HOV Lanes and Transit Lanes, are lanes restricted for the use of cars carrying a specified number of occupants. See Carpool lanes for more information.

Central reservation

Strip of land or barrier separating a dual carriageway. Also known as a median.

Cookie munching, cookies

Cookies are the dots on unconfirmed roads (sometimes called pacman roads). Cookie munching (or road munching) is driving over such roads and earns points. It also confirms the road is drivable for the Waze server. See What are those dots... for more information.

Dead-end Node

This is an endpoint node found at the end of a segment without another segment connected to its end, when the other endpoint node of the segment is connected to one or more other segments.

Directionality

Whether a road is one-way, two-way or Unknown.

Divided highway

See dual carriageway

Dual carriageway

A road or highway in which the two directions of traffic are separated by a central barrier or strip of land, known as a central reservation or median

Editable Area

A defined distance around the drives you have taken with Waze running within which you have rights to edit unlocked objects. See editable area for more information.

Endpoint node

Also called an end node is found at both ends of a segment, is visible only after selecting a segment while in WME, and when joined to other endpoint nodes create a junction.

Express lane

Freeway

Motorway; the major road system in your country. See freeways for more information.

Geometry

The layout or shape of a segment. Each road is made up of one or more segments. The segments are made up of one or more straight line sections. These sections can be short, effectively allowing curves to be created in a segment. See Editing existing roads for more information.

Geometry node

When editing a segment or landmark, large white circles appear where the segment changes direction ultimately altering its shape. Click and drag them individually to alter the geometry of the segment or landmark. Press the d key while the mouse is hovered over them to delete the geometry node.

The smaller white circles between the geometry nodes are "inter"-geometry nodes. When you click and drag an inter-geometry node, it becomes a larger geometry node and two more inter-geometry nodes appear halfway between each side again.

Grade

The level or elevation of a road with respect to surrounding roads. So a road would normally be at level grade. A road going underneath in a tunnel would be a -1 grade. A road going over would be a +1 grade. At complicated junctions such as freeway interchanges there can be many levels. So on a flat map we assign levels to show that while the roads cross, they do not connect because they are at different heights or elevations. See At-grade connectors for more information.

HOV, HOV Lane - High Occupancy Vehicle

A vehicle with 2 or more occupants. HOV Lanes, also known as Carpool Lanes and Transit Lanes, are lanes restricted for the use of cars carrying a specified number of occupants. See Carpool lanes for more information.

IGN

Editors paid by Waze to make updates to the map. See IGN for more information.

Intl or INTL - International

International abbreviation used to refer to the non-North America server infrastructure and location.

Junction or Junction Point

The point (small blue spot on the end of a segment) where two or more road segments connect; often 'incorrectly' referred to as a 'node'. A junction point is visible at the end of a dead end road. It not visible, it can be corrected with the instructions for fixing dead end nodes.

Map issue

A button on the Waze client app to indicate there is a problem with the map. See Update Requests for more information.

Map tile, tile

The Waze map is divided into a grid using 1km-square areas which are called tiles or map tiles. Changes to the map are processed on a per-tile basis. Changes to any part of a map tile causes Waze to mark the tile as changed and it will be rebuilt in the next map update cycle.

Median, median barrier

Strip of land or barrier separating a divided highway or motorway. Also known as a central reservation.

Motorway

Freeway; the major road system in your country

Munching

Driving over roads which have not previously been driven (pacman roads). See cookie munching for more information.

NA - North America

nanoRep

The automated support system managed by Waze directly. It provides information and basic troubleshooting information on Waze. It may have newer information not yet updated in the Wiki. See the nanoRep support site for answers to Waze questions.

Node

Origin

Starting point for a driving route, with the destination being the ending point.

Pacman roads

Unconfirmed roads marked with dots (cookies) that have not been driven upon since being created or significantly edited in the Waze Map Editor. Driving over these roads earns you points and turns your car icon into a Pacman-type character that "munches the dots." See cookie munching for more information.

Pathfinder

The road segments linking roadways that are not necessarily their own named streets. They are often part of the rampways getting on or off freeways and highways or between freeways. After initially exiting a freeway they help further direct drivers through additional turn decisions before reaching the desired roadway or street. See Junction Style Guide for more information.

PLR

Abbreviation for Parking Lot Road.

PM, Private Message

Every Waze user has a personal mail account inside the Waze forums for the purpose of communicating with each other. See Private message for more information.

Pothole

Also called a kettle or chuckhole, is a type of disruption in the surface of a roadway where a portion of the road material has broken away, leaving a hole.

Ramp

A freeway entrance or exit; sliproad. Ramps may be on-ramps or off-ramps. Ramps used to connect roads at a different grade from the connecting road or freeway. See ramp road type and Junction Style Guide for more information.

RevCon

Reverse Connectivity

A connection (turn allowed) from one segment to another via a junction which goes against the directionality of at least one of the segments is called a Reverse Connection, and these segments have "reverse connectivity." This can cause routing irregularities.

Though it is hard to see this in the editor, two segments of a one-way road connected together could have an allowed "turn" in the opposite direction of the flow of traffic, or directionality, of the segments. This can be seen in the editor by turning both segments to 2-way and then seeing the location of the allowed turns. The Color Highlighting userscript can also assist in identifying where reverse connectivity exists.

Segment

SelfCon

Self Connectivity

A segment is defined in the Waze database as having a connection, via a junction, back to itself. That can cause routing irregularities, but also may be the future of how to define a u-turn. As of today, self connectivity is not desirable. Tools such as the Color Highlighting userscript can help identify this situation.

Sliproad

A motorway entrance or exit; ramp. Sliproads are often at a different grade from the connecting road or motorway

Smudged city

A map problem that shows cities on the map in places they should not be, or unnecessarily duplicated. See Fixing "smudged" cities for more information.

Time-based, or time restricted

Related to turns (and special lanes). When a turn is restricted (or a lane is controlled) based on the time of day, it is often referred to as a time restricted turn or a time-based turn restriction.

Transit lane

Also known as Carpool Lanes and HOV Lanes, are lanes restricted for the use of cars carrying a specified number of occupants. See Carpool lanes for more information.

TTS

Text-to-speech - Navigation instructions spoken to the driver by the Waze application

Update Request (UR)

An Update Request is a Map Issue reported by a user from the Waze client app. It is also a layer in the Map Editor. See update requests for more information.